Morningstar, an independent investment research and ranking site, offers a wealth of free information about mutual funds. Look beyond the star rating, though.

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Ask for the prospectus from the fund company or brokerage firm. This information is often available online.

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Get a copy of the most recent semiannual
report (again, you'll likely find it online).
These reports frequently feature a letter
from the portfolio manager. His or her discussion
of the past six months will give you an
indication of how he or she runs the fund.
A good manager discusses both victories
and mistakes.

8. Putting it off
Retirement is decades away. You don't need to worry about it, right?

In the world of saving, procrastination is your worst enemy. If you're smart, you'll get started early.

According to MarksJarvis, in order to accumulate
$1 million at retirement, you'll need to invest just
$20 a week in a simple stock market mutual fund when
you're 19, about a $100 a week if you wait until you're
35, and roughly $300 a week if you delay until age
45, assuming a retirement age of 65 and an average
annual return of 10 percent. (Of course, while 10
percent is in the ballpark of how the market performed
historically over many decades, there's no guarantee
that it will continue to do so.)

Here's how it plays out.

Getting to a million bucks

"Of course, you can catch up," MarksJarvis says, "but then you have to dig in deeper and it's actually a little more painful than if you were just saving small amounts to begin with."

But don't ever give up. A person who, at age 45,
has accumulated $30,000 can still end up with a nest
egg of about $460,000, if they put away $5,000 per
year for 20 years, points out MarksJarvis. This assumes
an annualized return of 9.6 percent.

Many people delay investing because of debt, says Salmen, but there's no excuse not to take the easy pickings.